On September 14, 1862, Robert E. Lee's opportunistic first invasion of the North was turned back at the gaps of South Mountain near Boonsboro, Maryland. The fighting was desperate and for the numbers engaged rather bloody. It has become just a footnote in history, but it was here that the Confederacy reached it's high tide.

South Mountain by Rick Reeve

South Mountain by Rick Reeve depicting the wounding of General Garland

Monday, February 21, 2011

Remembering North Carolina's fallen

NC Monument at Fox's Gap

﻿﻿﻿﻿

In the fighting on September 14, 1862 at the gaps along South Mountain, men and boys from North Carolina beared the brunt of the fighting, particularly during the fighting at Fox's Gap. Thirteen regiments of infantry and three artillery batteries participated in the battle. It was men from the 5th North Carolina from Samuel Garland's brigade that fired some of the first shots and it was﻿﻿﻿﻿ the 6th North Carolina of Evander Law's brigade that fired some of the final shots. With help from the 4 volume set Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War between the States by John W. Moore, I have been able to put a name to many of the casualties that were suffered by these regiments during the battle. Published in 1882, Mr. Moore's work is the best book of rosters that I have come across during my research up here on the mountain. Moore does is best to build rosters for each regiment but he readily admits that the records of many regiments were lost following the fall of Richmond and he informs the reader that he regrets that this has happened. Thankfully, the rosters appear complete in his book, just the information about what happened to the men during the war is missing, especially in the case of the 4th North Carolina. So armed with this book, I believe I have compiled the most accurate listing possible of those North Carolinian's who fell during the bloody fighting on South Mountain. I have listed the regiments by brigade and at which gap they went into battle. Any casualties showing the soldier as killing, wounded, or missing in Maryland 1862 and nothing more have been excluded due to the uncertainty of where they became a casualty.

General Hill recalled at least 100 men killed and wounded and another 200 missing for a total of 300 casualties. The rosters in this book give us at least 115 names so of the casualty figures stated by Hill, 38.3 % are known.

Ripley's brigade, in an attempt to outflank the Union left at Fox's Gap, marched to far west and off of the mountain. These casualties are likely from minor skirmishing that took place as the brigade went into line on the western face of the mountain.

It was two regiments from Anderson's brigade that saved the day when Garland's brigade was swept from the field in the morning fight at Fox's Gap. The brigade would be an integral part of the planned afternoon counterattack but, while going into position, a fatal gap of nearly 300 yards opened between Anderson's left and the right of Thomas Drayton's brigade. Anderson would claw his way back towards the gap but it would be to late for those Confederates fighting near the Daniel Wise house. Again, as was the case with Garland's brigade, General Hill recalls that G.B. Anderson's brigade suffered 84 killed and wounded and 29 missing as a result of the fighting at Fox's Gap. So using these numbers as the official number of casualties, the list I have compiled accounts for 48% of the total casualties.

The 6th North Carolina entered into the fray at Fox's Gap just as the sun was going down on September 14, 1862. The counterattack of Hood's division stopped the Union tidal wave that was sweeping northward towards Turner's Gap. The number of casualties are unknown from Hood's division for their fight at Fox's Gap but it can be ascertained that the numbers were rather low.

At Crampton's Gap, the 15th North Carolina infantry was the only North Carolina unit to suffer casualties in the fight. It came up late in the action and was going into position when the Union 6th Corps broke the main Confederate line at the base of the mountain. The North Carolinian's put up a stubborn resistance but the weight of numbers and the confusion of those men fleeing through their lines cause the regiment to break and run as well. According to Timothy Reese in Sealed With Their Lives: The Battle of Crampton's Gap, the regiment suffered 18 killed, 58 wounded, and 91 missing. Those listed account for 49.1% of those casualties.

From Hill's recollections and Timothy Reese's book, there are reports of 260 killed and wounded with 320 missing. From what I've collected here, there are 63 killed, 145 wounded, and 58 missing listed here for a total of 266 men. This accounts for 45.8% of the casualties numbers reported.

Glad to find this site on Battle of South Mountain, where my great grandfather Thomas C. Reavis and his younger brother Samuel W. Reavis fought with Company G (Granville Rifles) of the NC 23rd Regiment. I recently published a book on the various battles of the Regiment. It includes Fox Gap. The book's website is http://www.UponTheseSteps.com

About Me

I am a student of the Civil War. I've had an interest in studying this conflict since I was ten and my passion for it has just grown ever since. I want to bring to life the stories of those men who fought and bled so that this nation could experience a "new birth of freedom". I am a former NPS intern at South Mountain State Battlefield and also a former Historical Intepreter at Fort Frederick State Park.